1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is directed to distillation systems having columns with individual trays having separate and distinct heating and/or cooling capabilities, and in some preferred embodiments, to such systems having tray cooling units which rely upon phase change coolant injection. Preferred embodiments also include preprogrammable and programmable systems.
2. Information Disclosure Statement
The following patents are representative of prior art related to various types of heated/cooled reactors, distillers and the like:
U.S. Pat. No. 1,744,421 to W. F. Stroud, Jr., et al. describes a process which comprises passing vapors upwardly through a plurality of fractionating zones at different levels, passing reflux liquid downwardly in a continuous stream through said zones countercurrent to and in contact with said vapors, withdrawing liquid from one of said zones at a rate in excess of the rate at which reflux liquid is passed there-through, cooling the liquid so withdrawn, and returning liquid so cooled to a zone at least as high as the zone from which it was withdrawn.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,739,221 to Glen H. Morey describes a vessel heater as recited in which includes a first valve communicating with a supply of non-inflammable and non-combustion-supporting fluid in its gaseous phase to regulate admission of a quantity of fluid to blanket said heating element and thereby preclude ignition of combustible products adjacent said heating element, and a second valve communicating with a supply of non-inflammable and non-combustible-supporting fluid in its liquid phase to regulate admission of a quantity of fluid to effect rapid cooling of the vessel heater.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,894,881 to Clinton M. Wolston, Jr. et al. describes a laboratory distillation testing apparatus having a condenser tank, a flask, a flask supporting means, a heating means, a condenser tube passing through the said tank, and a light diffusing panel, the improvements which comprise a recess in said condenser tank, a shield means disposed within said recess, adjustable shelf means carried by said shield means for supporting said flask, conduit means below said tank, and solenoid valve means on said conduit means, the discharge end of said conduit means projecting forwardly of the rear wall of said recess below said condenser tube inlet and arranged to discharge forwardly and downwardly towards said shelf means.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,133,014 to Willis J. Cross, Jr. describes in the fractionation of a synthetic crude effluent obtained from a hydrocarbon conversion reaction, wherein said effluent is fractionated by introducing the same at least partially in vapor state into a fractionating tower for separation into several cuts including (a) a gasoline-containing cut and (b) a bottoms product having a mid-boiling point above 600 F., and wherein a portion of said bottoms product is cooled and admixed in liquid state for direct heat exchange with the hot vapor effluent directed to the fractionating tower; the improvement which comprises introducing said portion of cooled liquid bottoms axially into the vapor conduit carrying the flowing stream of said vapor effluent at a location up-stream of said fractionating tower, said liquid being introduced by discharging a circumferentially expanding cone of said liquid concurrently into said flowing vapor stream, and said location being so selected that the expanding cone of liquid does not contact the inner wall of said conduit along a substantial portion of the path of flow of said liquid toward said tower.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,143,167 to Adolf Vieth describes a temperature controlled enclosure comprising, a first metal wall surrounding the enclosure space, a heating means in thermal contact with said first wall for raising the temperature of the enclosure, a second metal wall surrounding the heating means, cooling means in thermal contact with said second wall for lowering the temperature of the enclosure, a first temperature-sensitive element in thermal contact with said first metal wall, a second temperature-sensitive element in thermal contact with said second metal wall, and a control circuit connected between said elements and said heating and cooling means for energizing the heating and cooling means selectively to produce a desired temperature within the enclosure, said control circuit including a bridge, an amplifier, and a switching means for connecting the heating means to a source of power when said first temperature-sensitive element is connected to the bridge and for activating the cooling means when said second temperature-sensitive element is connected to the bridge.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,239,432 to Joseph C. Rhodes et al. describes an apparatus for controlling the operation of a first distillation column and for determining the distillation properties of a product sample from said first column which apparatus comprises: means for withdrawing a product sample containing a mixture of liquids having different boiling points from said first column; a test column member; a plurality of liquid-retaining trays spaced apart vertically within said test column; a liquid sample container positioned below said test column and in flow communication with the bottom-most portion of said test column; means for receiving said withdrawn product sample and introducing a known amount of said product sample into said container; means for vaporizing liquid sample introduced into said container; vapor riser means for passing vapors from the lower portion of said test column upwardly through said test column to intimately contact liquid retaining on said trays; condensing means communicating with the upper end of said test column to condense all the vapors rising from the upper-most of said trays; means for returning the resulting condensate to the upper-most of said trays; means for maintaining the test column pressure at a substantially constant pressure during a run; means for maintaining a pre-selected level of liquid on said trays; temperature sensing means to sense the temperatures and produce a temperature signal indicative thereof of equilibrium vapors above the trays in said test column; means for receiving said temperature signal and correlating the sensed temperatures with the distillation properties of a known product sample of approximately the same composition as said sample being run and produced an output signal relative to said correlation; and means for receiving said output signal and adjusting the control parameters of the first column in accordance with said output signal.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,502,547 to R. E. Bridgeford describes a separation system for the recovery of a middle boiling fraction from a feed mixture containing said middle boiling fraction and higher and lower boiling fractions, comprising:
(a) a single fractional distillation column containing:                (1) a top section, and        (2) a bottom section, said bottom section-having a smaller diameter than said top section;        
(b) means for passing said feed mixture into said top section;
(c) a solid vapor impermeable plate separating said top section from said bottom section and having as the only fluid passageway through said plate at least one downcomer;
(d) a tray positioned as the top tray in the top portion of said bottom section and spaced below said plate to form a vapor space therebetween, said tray having weir means for maintaining a liquid level thereon, said at least one downcomer extending downwardly into the liquid retained on said tray so that said at least one downcomer passes only liquid from the bottom portion of said top section to the top portion of said bottom section while vapor is prevented from passing upwardly from said bottom section to said top section;
(e) means for removing from said fractional distillation column and from the system a primary overhead product stream comprising said lower boiling fraction by removing an overhead vaporous fraction from the top portion of said top section;
(f) means for removing from said fractional distillation column and from the system an intermediate vaporous product stream comprising said middle boiling fraction by removing a vaporous fraction from the vapor space above said tray in the top portion of said bottom section;
(g) means for removing from said fractional distillation column and from the system a bottom product stream comprising said higher boiling fraction by removing liquid from the bottom portion of said bottom section;
(h) reboiling means for heating liquid in the bottom portion of said top section to provide stripping vapor for said top section; and
(i) reboiling means for heating liquid in the bottom portion of said bottom section to provide stripping vapor for said bottom section.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,544,428 to Marvin E. Mellbom describes a fractionation apparatus comprising a vertically elongated chamber having an upperflashing section, and upper stripping section disposed externally of said elongated chamber and connecting with said upper flashing section and having direct liquid communication with said upper flashing section, a lower flashing section in said chamber below said upper flashing section, a lower stripping section connected to the lower portion of said lower flashing section and having fluid communication therewith, said lower and upper flashing sections in said chambers being separated by a transverse partition adapted to pass vapors from the lower section into said upper section and to prevent liquid flow therebetween, a common fractionating section above said upper flashing section, a conduit means extending upwardly from said partition to said upper flashing section, the upper end of said conduit means being spaced above the elevation of the hereinbelow specified first feed inlet, said conduit means providing vapor communication between said flashing sections, a first feed inlet for introducing a first heated hydrocarbon feed into said upper flashing section, a second feed inlet for introducing a second heated hydrocarbon feed into said lower flashing section, said first feed being independent of and having a different composition than both said second feed and the hereinbelow specified second bottoms fraction, stripping inlet means for introducing stripping material into each of said stripping material into each of said stripping sections, at least one product outlet in the fractionating section of said chamber, a bottoms fraction outlet in said upper stripping section for withdrawing a first bottoms fraction therefrom, and a bottoms fraction outlet in said lower stripping section for withdrawing a second bottoms fraction therefrom.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,117,881 to Williams et al. describes blood cells, blood marrow, and other similar biological tissue is frozen while in a polyethylene bag placed in abutting relationship against opposed walls of a pair of heaters. The bag and tissue are cooled with refrigerationing gas at a time programmed rate at least equal to the maximum cooling rate needed at any time during the freezing process. The temperature of the bag, and hence of the tissue, is compared with a time programmed desired value for the tissue temperature to derive an error indication. The heater is active in response to the error indication so that the temperature of the tissue follows the desired value for the time programmed tissue temperature. The tissue is heated to compensate for excessive cooling of the tissue as a result of the cooling by the refrigerating gas. In response to the error signal, the heater is deactivated while the latent heat of fusion is being removed from the tissue while the tissue is changing phase from liquid to solid.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,276,264 to Redikultsev et al. describes a device for sterilizing water-containing liquid media by steam which comprises a sterilizing vessel with inlet and outlet connections for processed liquid media. A heater is provided in the lower portion of the vessel, while a condenser is arranged in the upper portion thereof. The vessel also houses a coaxially mounted steam-transfer unit representing gas-lift tube with a diffuser disposed over the heater.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,346,754 to Imig et al. describes a heating and cooling apparatus capable of cyclic heating and cooling of a test specimen undergoing fatigue testing. Cryogenic fluid is passed through a block 10 clamped to the specimen 11 to cool the block and the specimen. Heating cartridges 13 penetrate the block 10 to heat the block and the specimen 11 to very hot temperatures. Control apparatus 36 and 46 is provided to alternately activate the cooling and heating modes to effect cyclic heating and cooling between very hot and very cold temperatures. The block 10 is constructed of minimal mass to facilitate the rapid temperature change thereof.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,714,542 to William Lockett, Jr. describes a distillation vapor and feed mixing and subsequent separation process and apparatus involving the introduction of a vaporizing liquid feed into a flashing zone via a tangential nozzle into a mixing and separation chamber which directs the feed into a circumferential path to enhance mixing, and the redirection of rising vapors from the distillation below the flash zone by baffling these vapors into the chamber inlet. The rising vapors are inspirated by the high velocity feed at the inlet side of the chamber and intimate contact and mixing of the rising vapors with the vaporizing feed are enhanced by creating a spinning action. Preferably, the chamber runs peripherally and slightly downward along the inside wall of the distillation column along an arc no greater than 360. Alternatively, the mixing section of the mixing and separation chamber may be located outside of the distillation tower and the feed, passing through a jet ejector would inspirate the rising vapors. Increasing contacting and mixing efficiency in a distillation flash zone increases the yield of more valuable overhead product for the same energy input or permits lower energy input for constant separation between overheads and bottoms in the flash zone.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,326,436 to Sampath et al. describes a method of feeding a fractionator feed mixture having a wide-boiling range vapor-liquid mixture is provided. Also, provided is a fractionator feed section adapted to receive a two phase feed mixture and has operational stability when fed a feed mixture which generates significant volume of vapor in the feed section.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,193,849 to William Lockett, Jr. describes a fractionator having a fractionation vessel, a reactor effluent vapors inlet, a vapor feed contacting zone, a baffled contacting section above the vapor feed contacting zone, a tops section above the baffled contacting section, a heavy bottoms liquid hold-up pool section below the vapor feed contacting zone, a bottoms outlet, a bottoms recycle system with a heat exchanger. Recycled, cooled bottoms is fed back to the fractionation vessel at the heavy bottoms liquid hold-up pool section and above the vapor feed contacting zone. The improvements involve providing a separation tray and downpipe for separating cooler bottoms liquid from hotter product vapors within the fractionation vessel: to avoid condensation and absorption of product vapors by the liquid pool; to have more rapid and uniform quenching of hot liquid entering the pool; and substantially reduce costly onstream maintenance to clean fouled bottoms recycle exchangers.
Notwithstanding the prior art, the present invention is neither taught nor rendered obvious thereby.